Textile sliver coiler

ABSTRACT

A textile sliver coiler that includes a sliver can platform structure comprising a base plate, and a circular platform member that is rotated by a belt member engaging the peripheral edge thereof and that is carried concentrically on an annular series of adjacent ball members interposed between the base plate and the platform member whereby the can carrying surface of the platform member is disposed at a level very near to the adjacent floor surface to permit sliver cans to be readily placed thereon and removed therefrom, this can carrying surface having upstanding wall portions arranged to center and hold a sliver can thereon. Additionally, the coil drive assembly is composed of separable parts compactly housed substantially within the confines of the coiler column structure and easily removable therefrom for routine maintenance of the coiler, and includes a pivotally mounted transmission assembly for operatively connecting the coiler drive assembly to an external power source such as a carding machine.

United States Patent Gunter et al.

[54] TEXTILE SLIVER COILER [72] Inventors: Josef K. Gunter; C. Walton Gunter; Roy E. Pattillo; James W. Howe, Jr., all of Durham, NC.

[73] Assignee: Gunter & Cooke, Inc., Durham,

[22] Filed: July 27, 1970 21] Appl. No.: 64,073

Related US. Application Data [63] Continuation of Ser. No. 773,867, Nov. 6,

1968, abandoned.

FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 6/1965 Germany ..19/159 R [is] 3,681,815 1 Aug. 8, 1972 964,674 7/1964 Great Britain ..19/159R Primary Examiner-Dorsey Newton AttorneyChanning L. Richards, Dalbert U. Shefte and Francis M. Pinckney ABSTRACT A textile sliver coiler that includes a sliver can platform structure comprising a base plate, and a circular platform member that is rotated by a belt member engaging the peripheral edge thereof and that is carried concentrically on an annular series of adjacent ball members interposed between the base plate and the platform member whereby the can carrying surface of the platform member is disposed at a level very near to the adjacent floor surface to permit sliver cans to be readily placed thereon and removed therefrom, this can carrying surface having upstanding wall portions arranged to center and hold a sliver can thereon. Additionally, the coil drive assembly is composed of separable parts compactly housed. substantially within the confines of the coiler column structure and easily removable therefrom for routine maintenance of the coiler, and includes a pivotally mounted transmission assembly for operatively connecting the coiler drive assembly to an external power source such asacarding machine.

5 Claims, 15 Drawing Figures United States Patent Gunter et al.

3,681,815 Aug. 8, 1972 PATENTEDAus 8 m2 SHEET 4 BF 5 INVENTORS TEXTILE SLIVER COILER This application is a continuation of application Ser.

No. 773,876, filed Nov. 6, 1968, now abandoned.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Textile sliver coilers have traditionally included a base structure having a rotating platform member on which a sliver can is carried as it is filled with a continuous sliver issuing from a rotating tube plate mounted in the coiler head structure, the compound movement of the rotating platform member and the rotating tube plate resulting in the sliver being laid in the sliver can in a pattern of successive loops that substantially fill the entire volume of the sliver can. The platform member is usually supported for rotation by a centrally located shaft member extending vertically downward from the platform member and joumaled in a large hearing assembly carried by the base plate element of the base structure, and rotational movement is usually imparted to the platform member by a ring gear, sprocket wheel or the like fixed to the underside of the platform member and operatively connected to a speed reducing gear train disposed between the platform member and the base plate.

The structural requirements of supporting and driving the platform member in this manner necessarily result in the upper sliver can supporting surface thereof being located at a substantial elevation above the adjacent floor surface on which the base structure of the coiler is stationed, and this elevation poses a burdensome handling problem to the operator when he places empty sliver cans on the platform member for filling and particularly when he removes the filled cans therefrom. This problem is becoming more acute in view of the present industry trend toward using increasingly larger and heavier sliver cans. In an effort to overcome this problem there have been several relatively recent proposals which eliminate altogether the rotating platform member and provide in its stead relatively complex structural arrangements designed to maintain the same general sliver laying pattern of a conventional coiler. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,323,178, issued June 6, 1967, discloses a coiler in which rollers frictionally engage the side wall of a sliver can to cause rotation thereof,.and US. Pat. No. 2,728,113, issued Dec. 27, 1955, is a representative prior art patent disclosing a coiler that imparts a compound rotational movement to the sliver tube in the head structure of the coiler whereby the sliver is laid in loops into a stationary sliver can standing on the floor surface adjacent the coiler.

On the other hand, the present invention, without requiring any complex additions to conventional coiler constructions, alleviates substantially the aforementioned handling problem by providing a simply constructed, compact basestructure which lowers substantially the can supporting surface of the rotating platform member to an elevation above the adjacent floor surface that allows sliver cans to be readily placed thereon and removed therefrom. In addition, the present invention provides a drive arrangement for the coiler that is compactly contained substantially within the column structure of the coiler and constructed to permit the components thereof to be removed readily from the column structure when required, and that includes a unique, pivotally mounted transmission assembly for connecting the coiler to an external power source such as a carding machine take-off gear.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In accordance with the present invention, the platformstructure of the coiler comprises a base plate, a circular platform member carried by a bearing arrange- V ment interposed between the base plate and the bottom surface of the circular platform member, and a driving member engaging the periphery of the platform member to cause rotation thereof. In the'preferred embodiment of the present invention, this bearing arrangement for the platform member comprises a plurality of adjacent ball members carried between the bottom of the platform member and an upper side of the base plate, and the platform member is rotated by a belt member engaging a groove formed at the peripheral edge of the platform member, this belt member being driven by a drive pulley disposed beneath the column structure of the coiler and operatively connected to the main coiler drive assembly which, according to a further feature of the present invention, is substantially wholly contained within the column structure.

By virtue of this unique construction of the platform structure, the various platform driving and supporting components conventionally carried between the platform member and the base plate, as previously mentioned, have been eliminated and, accordingly, the can carrying portion of the platform member has been lowered substantially to an elevation above the adjacent floor surface which allows even large and heavy sliver cans to be readily placed on and removed from the platform structure with very little manipulation or lifting of the sliver cans. Additionally, this can carrying portion of the platform member is provided with upstanding wall portions disposed to cause the sliver can to become centered on the platform member when the spherical supporting rollers of the sliver can mutually contact these wall portions, and to cause the sliver can to be wedged in place thereat by the rotational thrust imparted to the sliver can as the sliveris laid therein.

Finally, the previously mentioned main coiler drive assembly of the present invention, in addition to being substantially wholly contained in a compact manner within the coiler column structure, is composed of a number of components detachably secured to one another in a manner which permits one or more of the components to be selectively removed from the column structure for replacement or maintenance without removing the entire drive assembly. Also, this drive assembly may be connected to a unique transmission assembly for operatively connecting the input gear of the coiler to a take-ofi gear of an external power source such as a carding machine without requiring extensive adjustment of the coiler position to engage directly the input gear thereof with the take-off gear. This transmission includes a bracket member mounted at one of its ends for pivotal movement about the axis of rotation of the input gear, and an idler gear mounted for free rotation at the other end of the bracket in meshing relation with the input gear whereby the idler gear can assume any position around the periphery of the input gear and thereby bridge the spacing between the input gear and the take-off gear.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF TIE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a side elevation of a textile coiler according to the present invention, taken along line 1--1 in FIG. 4 with the extending portion of the platform structure of the coiler deleted;

FIG. 1A is an enlarged sectional detail view of the aforementioned deleted portion of the sliver can platform structure;

FIG. 1B is an enlarged sectional detail view of the portion of the sliver can platform structure located adjacent the column structure of the coiler;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the sliver can platform struc ture;

FIG. 3 is an elevational view, partly broken away, of the column structure of the coiler;

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the head structure of the coiler;

FIG. 5 is a detail view of the calender roll assembly in the head structure of the coiler;

FIG. 6 is a detail view taken along line 6-6 in FIG.

FIG. 7 is a side view, partly in section, of a plug member employed in the ball race of the head structure of the coiler;

FIG. 8 is a plan view of the plug member illustrated in FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a detail view of the trumpet clearer member used with the coiler of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a detail view taken along line 10-10 in FIG. 2;

FIG. 11 is a plan view of another embodiment of the platform member of the present invention;

FIG. 12 is a plan view of a further embodiment of the platform member of the present invention; and

FIG. 13 is a detail view taken along line 13-13 in FIG. 12.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now in detail to the accompanying drawings, FIG. 1 illustrates a textile sliver coiler according to the present invention and comprising a sliver can platform structure 10 from which a tubular column structure 11 extends vertically to support at its upper end a head structure 12.

The head structure 12 includes a horizontally extending support plate 13 fitted with a mounting sleeve 14 to receive the upper end of the tubular column structure 11, and formed with a circular opening in which a circular tube plate 15 is disposed and supported at the periphery thereof for rotation by a plurality of ball members 16 carried in facing grooves 17 provided in the adjacent wall portions of the support plate 13 and the tube plate 15, respectively, the ball members 16 being preferably made of nylon rather than steel whereby the relatively rapidly rotating tube plate 15 is provided with an extremely quiet bearing support.

To load and unload the ball members 16 in the space between the grooves 17, the tube plate 15 is fitted with a removable plug 18 that is formed with a groove segment 17 circumferentially aligned with the tube plate groove 17 when the plug 18 is held in place on the tube plate 15 by a suitable screw. When the plug 18 is removed, an opening is formed through which the ball members 16 can be easily passed, and this opening is located adjacent a trough section 15' in the upper face of the tube plate 15 which provides a convenient compartment for holding the plurality of ball members 16 as they are being loaded or unloaded. Lubrication for the ball members 16 is provided at the plug member 18 by a rectangular strip 19 (FIGS. 7 and 8) of felt or other suitable material that can be saturated with a lubricant, and this strip 19 is arranged so that it projects slightly into the groove segment 17 whereby the projecting portion will contact the ball members 16 as they pass by and will deposit a small quantity of lubricant thereon. Lubricant is supplied to the strip 19 through a pair of passages 20 drilled into the plug 18 and connecting with the strip 19.

The tube plate 15 also includes a vertically extending circular wall 21 formed at its exterior face with a groove 22 disposed coaxially with respect to the tube plate 15 for engagement with a poly-V belt member 23 driven by a sheave 24 fitted on an upper drive shaft section 25 so as to cause rotation of the tube plate 15. The tube plate 15 is provided with a sliver tube 29 extending upwardly at an inclination to receive sliver from the calender roll assembly 30 and to deliver the sliver through an opening 31 adjacent the periphery of the bottom face of the tube plate 15 as it is rotated, the delivered sliver being formed in loops in a conventional manner as it is laid into a sliver can (not shown) rotatably supported by the platform structure 10.

The calender roll assembly 30 includes a driving calender roll 32 and an idler calender roll 33 mounted on similar shafts 34, 34' journaled in a stationary sleeve 35 and a pivotal sleeve 36, respectively, the stationary sleeve 34 having upstanding arms 37 attached by screws 38 to the top wall 39 of a supporting superstructure 40 secured to the support plate 13 by bolts 40' (FIG. 4); and the pivotal sleeve 36 having upstanding arms 41 (FIG. 5) mounted for pivotal movement about a pivot rod 42 mounted on the top wall 39. The shaft 34 is rotatably driven by a pair of meshing bevel gears 43, 44 fixed to the upper drive shaft section 25 and the shaft 34, respectively, and the shaft 34' is driven by the shaft 34 through meshing spur gears 45, 45' fixed to the shaft 34 and the shaft 34', respectively. The pivotal sleeve 36 is normally held in a position adjacent the stationary sleeve 35 by a holding spring element 46 secured to the stationary sleeve 35 and arranged to engage a cam surface 47 formed externally on the pivotal sleeve 36, and in this position of the pivotal sleeve 36 the idler calender roll 33 is located peripherally adjacent the driving calender roll 32 and rotated by the meshing spur gears 45, 45'. If, however, the sliver being fed to the calender roll assembly 30 bunches up or laps the calender rolls so that a choke occurs thereat, the pivotal sleeve 36 will be shifted about the pivot rod 42 thereby causing the holding element 46 to ride up the cam surface 47 until the pivotal sleeve 36 is released to disengage the spur gears 45, 45 so that further feeding of the sliver through the calender rolls 32, 33 is prevented until the abnormal condition has been corrected. Also, the calender roll assembly 30 includes a handle element 48 secured to the pivotal sleeve 36 to facilitate manually shifting it about the pivot rod 42 when desired.

To prevent cyclic wear on the contacting surfaces of the calender rolls '32, 33, the diameter of one of the rolls is made slightly larger than the diameter of the other roll and the surface speed of both rolls is made equal whereby the respective surfaces of the rolls will contact each other at different points on each rotation thereof. For example, the driving calender roll 32 may have a diameter of 2% inches and the idler calender roll 33 a diameter of 2% inches, while the spur gears 34 and 34' are designed to provide a constant surface speed for the difierent size rolls (i.e., the driving calender roll spur gear 34 having a pitch diameter of 2% inches and teeth, and the idler calender roll spur gear 34 having a pitch diameter of 2% inches and 21 teeth).

To compress the sliver as it is fed to the calender rolls 32, 33, a trumpet clearer member 26 is placed atop these rolls in a conventional manner, the trumpet clearer element 26 being shown in dotted lines in FIGS. 1 and 5 so as not to obscure other details in these figures, and being shown in greater detail in FIG. 9. In accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the trumpet clearer member 26 is fabricated from rnicarta, a material found to have exceptional qualities for this use because it is light enough not to cause any wear on the surface of the calender rolls 32, 33 and hence does not require a felt lining like that found on conventional trumpet clearer members, and because it can be readily machined. As best illustrated in FIG. 9, the trumpet clearer member 26 is formed with a conical opening 27 which compresses the sliver to a small diameter just before it exits into the nip of the calender rolls 32, 33 and it also includes a guide plate 28 attached to a vertical face of the trumpet clearer member 26 so as to contact the vertical sides of the calender rolls 32, 33 and maintain the trumpet clearer member 26 in place thereon.

A suction source for preventing any accumulation of lint or other foreign matter around the calender roll assembly 30 is provided in the form of a U-shaped chan nel member 49 having the extending arms thereof secured beneath the top wall 39 of the supporting superstructure 40 by suitable attaching devices (not shown) so as to project outwardly beyond the calender rolls 32, 33, as seen in FIGS. 1 and 4. The channel member 49 is hollow, and it is provided with openings 50 disposed at the opposite sides of the calender rolls 32, 33 and with openings 51 arranged to coincide with similar openings in the supporting superstructure 40 the calender rolls 32, 33 through the openings 50, and

then discharged through the fitting 52.

To provide the sliver with a substantially vertical path as it is fed to the calender rolls 32, 33 a freely rotatable guide roller 53 is carried by a mounting assembly 54 for disposition just above the nip of the calender rolls 32, 33 to guide the sliver as it passes down through the spacing between the edge of the superstructure top wall 39 and the channel 49 (FIG. 4), and then into the calender roll nip.

The aforementioned upper drive shaft section 25 constitutes a part of the coiler drive assembly that, as best seen in FIG. 1, is substantially wholly contained within the confines of the column structure 11. This drive assembly includes a power input unit 55 compactly constructed to contain a right-angle section which permits a horizontally disposed input shaft 56 to transmit the input driving force to a pair of vertically disposed output shafts 57, 58, and also to contain a speed reduction section which is disposed between the input shaft 56 and the lower output shaft 58 to provide a 48:1 speed reduction ratio for the lower output shaft. This power input unit 55 may be a No. 48-1 Newton Right Angle and Reduction Unit manufactured by the Newton Instrument Company, and it is mounted to an arcuate cover plate 59 that is normally held in place by bolts 60 to cover a relatively large access opening 61 in the rear wall portion of the column structure 11. The power input unit 55 includes an enlarged bearing portion 62 that projects through the cover plate 59, and the input shaft 56 extends through this enlarged bearing portion 62 in perpendicular relation to the axis of the column structure 11. The aforementioned output shafts 57, 58 extend oppositely and substantially coaxially with respect to the column structure 11 and connect with the aforementioned upper drive shaft 25 and a lower drive shaft 63 respectively, these connections being made by conventional flexible couplings 64 that effectively transmit a torsional force while permitting the connection to be disengaged readily by manual axial separation of the connected components. The lower drive shaft 63 is secured to a drive sheave 65 disposed adjacent the lower end of the column structure 11 for driving the platform structure 10 as will be explained in greater detail presently.

By virtue of this construction of the drive assembly for the coiler, it will be noted that even though the drive assembly is substantially wholly contained within the column structure 11, the individual components of the drive assembly can be readily detached from one another and removed from the column structure 11 for maintenance or replacement. Thus, the upper drive shaft 25 can be separated at the uppermost and inter mediate flexible couplings 64, and then withdrawn upwardly through the column structure 1 1, it being noted in this regard that the head portion drive sheave 24 and the shaft bearings 66 located in the head portion superstructure 40 are secured to the upper drive shaft 25 by releasable clamps 67 that are readily accessible in the head structure to permit selective detachment of the upper drive shaft'25. Moreover, after the upper drive shaft 25 has been raised sufficiently to disconnect the coupling 64 between it and the upper output shaft 57, the power input unit 55 may be detached by releasing bolts 60 and lifting the arcuate cover plate 59 slightly to disconnect the lowermost flexible coupling 64 whereupon the power input unit 55 maybe passed through the access opening 61 when the arcuate cover plate 59 is removed.

The platform structure 10 of the coiler comprises a base plate 68 and a circular platform member 69 which is rotatably supported on the base plate 68 by an interposed bearing which, in the disclosed embodiment of the present invention, is in the form of a plurality of ball members 70 carried in annularly arranged recesses 71, 72 provided in the base plate 68 and the platform member 69, respectively, these recesses being located substantially beneath the portion of the platform member 69 at which the sliver can is carried. The peripheral edge of the platform member 69 is grooved at 74 for engagement with a poly-V belt member 75 driven bythe platform structure drive sheave 65 to cause rotation of the platform member 69. To take up any slack in the belt member 75, a pivoted roller 79 (FIGS. 2 and 6) is mounted at one end of a rocker arm 80 journaled in a bearing 81 carried by a top wall portion of the base plate 68, the rocker arm 80 being biased by a coil spring 82 to urge the roller 79 against the bolt member 75 to tension it properly for driving engagement with the drive sheave 65 and the platform member 69. The base plate 68 includes a plurality of leveling screws 73 disposed about the periphery thereof, and two brackets 76 by which the coiler can be secured to the adjacent floor surface by suitable bolts or the like. The platform member 69 is centered on the base plate 68 by a stub shaft 77 that is press-fitted into a central opening in the platform member 69 and rotatably carried in a bearing 78 located in the base plate 68. It will be noted, however, that since the platform member 69 is supported for rotation by the ball members 70 as previously described, the stub shaft 77 and bearing 78 serve only a centering function, and hence they are much smaller than the shaft and bearing arrangements used to support the platform member for rotation thereat.

Looking at FIG. 1, it will be observed that the upper can carrying surface of the platform member 69 is disposed at an extremely low elevation above the adjacent floor surface thereby rendering it much easier to load and unload sliver cans thereon. In fact, it has been found in actual practice that the height of this can carrying surface above the floor can be reduced at least to only 1% inches while still providing a proper bearing support for the rotating platform member 69.

Another feature of the present invention is the provision of a transmission assembly which allows the drive assembly of the coiler to be operatively connected to an external power source without having to carefully adjust the location of the coiler with respect to the external power source. Thus, as best illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 3, the input shaft 56 of the power input unit 55 has an input gear 83 keyed thereto, and a bracket member 84 is mounted at one of its ends for pivotal movement about the enlarged bearing portion 62 extending from the arcuate cover plate 59 coaxially with the input shaft 56, the other end of the bracket member 84 having an idler gear 85 mounted for free rotation thereon in meshing relation with the input gear 83. The bracket member 84 includes a flange portion 86 formed with an arcuate slot 87 through which a bolt 88 extends for locking the bracket member 84 at selected positions thereof as it pivots about the bearing portion 62, the idler gear 85 remaining in meshing relation with the input gear 83 at any selected position of the bracket member 84.

Since textile coilers are generally driven through a take-off connection with an associated carding machine from which the sliver to be coiled is issuing, FIG. 3 illustrates the coiler of the present invention in a typical location adjacent an associated carding machine which is only partially shown as including a take-off gear 89 driven by the main drive of the carding machine and a calender roll housing 90, shown in dotted lines, to which the coiler is usually connected to anchor it in place. With the coiler disposed adjacent the carding machine in this manner, the drive assembly of the coiler may be operatively connected to the takeoff gear 89 by simply loosening the bolt 88 and pivoting the bracket member 84 about the bearing portion 62 until the idler gear assumes a meshing relation with the take-ofi gear 89 whereupon the bolt 88 is tightened to maintain this driving relation between the input gear 83 and the take-off gear 89 through the idler gear 85. The coiler may then be anchored to the carding machine by a connecting bracket 91 secured to the arcuate cover plate 59 of the coiler by bolts 92 and to the calendar roll housing by a bolt 93.

In addition to the platform member 69 being substantially lower than in prior art coilers as previously described, the present invention also provides a structural arrangement which uniquely centers a sliver can on the platform member 69 as it is loaded thereon and then holds the sliver can in place thereat during the sliver laying operation.

Sliver cans are commonly supported on three spherical rollers carried on a triangular support at the bottom of the sliver can to facilitate transporting it from place to place both before and after it is filled. Since these spherical rollers would also permit the sliver can to move about on the platform member 69 during the filling thereof, it has been previously proposed to provide recesses in the can carrying surface of the platform member which either engage the spherical rollers and hold them in place, or accommodate the spherical rollers whereby the sliver can is supported on a lower vertical flange thereof, typical examples of these prior art arrangements being disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,816,328 and No. 3,299,479.

In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, an improved construction of the platform member 69 is provided which, as best illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 10, includes three upstanding wall portions 94 attached to the upper, can carrying surface of the platform member 69 by screws 95 secured in appropriate holes 96 in the platform member 69. These wall portions 94 extend inwardly from the peripheral edge of the platform member 69 with a directional extent and a length that will cause the wall portion 94 to engage the spherical rollers 97 of a sliver can (not shown) in such a way that when the three rollers 97 mutually engage the wall portions 94 as seen in FIG. 2, the sliver can will be centered on the platform member 69. The directional extent of the wall portions 94 corresponds generally to the direction of rotation of the tube plate 15 (indicated by arrow X in FIG. 2), and by virtue of this directional extent, the rotational thrust imparted to the sliver can by the sliver being laid therein at a high speed will result in the spherical rollers 97 of the sliver can being wedged against the wall portions 94 and held in place thereat. It should be noted that although the platform member 69 is also being rotated during the sliver laying operation, the tube plate is rotated at a much greater speed so that it is the force of the rotational thrust imparted to the sliver can thereby which determines the direction of rotation that the sliver can tends to follow, regardless of the direction of rotation of the platform member 69. Thus, the directional extent of the wall portions 94 will always be inclined in the general direction of rotation of the tube plate 15 even if the platform member is rotated in the same direction as the tube plate 15. It will be noted that the upper surface of the platform member 69 is flat except for the upstanding wall portions 94, and the length of the wall portions 94 is kept as small as possible so that they will offer little interference with the spherical rollers 97 of the sliver can as it is being loaded or unloaded onto the platform member 69. However, once the sliver can is placed on the platform member 69, it can be located generally at the center of the platform member 69 and then rotated by hand until the spherical rollers 97 are all in contact with one of the wall portions 94, and the triangulation of the wall portions 94 and the spherical balls 97 accurately centers the sliver can on the platform member. 69

It isto be understood that the exact directional extent and length of the wall portion 94 may vary somewhat 'in properly accomplishing this centering and wedging function. In the preferred embodiment, a nice balance between length and directional extent has been realized for a 24 inch diameter platform member if the wall portions 94 extend inwardly from a point on the periphery of the platform member 69 at an angle y of about 33 with respect to a tangent at this point, and if the wall portions 94 have a length of approximately 6- 5/16 inches.

In FIG. 1 1 there is illustrated another embodiment of the platfonn member 69 that is particularly suited for different-type sliver cans supported on conventional pivotal casters 98 rather than on spherical balls. Because the casters 98 are generally offset somewhat from the pivot axes thereof, the upstanding wall portions 99 in the FIG. 11 embodiment have a longer length (i.e., 9% inches for 24 inch diameter platform member 69) than in the FIG. 2 embodiment so as to be able to engage the casters 98 regardless of their position about their respective pivot axes. Also, the wall portions 99 are generally L-shaped to provide an end wall 99' which acts as a stop for the adjacent caster 98.

A further embodiment of the platform member 69 is illustrated in FIGS. 12 and 13, and this embodiment is designed to receive and support sliver cans which have no rollers or casters and that are designed with an annular lower wall 100 extending vertically from the bottom of the sliver can in a conventional manner. In this embodiment, the upstanding walls are replaced with semi-spherical guides 101 that are attached to the platform member 69 by screws 102. With three guides 101 disposed about the platform member 69 as shown in FIG. 12, a sliver can will be centered on the platform member 69 and held in place thereat when the lower wall 100 of the sliver can is in contact with the guides 101 as seen in FIG. 13.

It will be noted that the platform member 69 of the present invention is provided with a suitable arrangement of holes 96 to receive any of the guide devices of FIG. 2, FIG. 11, or FIG. 13 whereby any one of these three embodiments may be used interchangeably depending on the design of the sliver can being used with the coiler.

The present invention has been described in detail above for purposes of illustration only and is not intended to be limited by this description or otherwise to exclude any variation or equivalent arrangement that would be apparent from, or reasonably suggested by, the foregoing disclosure to the skill of the art.

We claim:

1. In a textile sliver coiler, a sliver can platform structure including a rotatableplatform member, a tubular column structure extending vertically from said platform structure and supporting at its upper end a head structure having rotatable means for laying a textile sliver into a sliver can carried by said platform member, and drive means including a power input unit detachably secured to said column structure intermediate the ends thereof and having two output shafts extending therefrom oppositely and generally coaxially with respect to said column structure, said power input unit also including a speed reduction section for reducing the rotational speed of one of said output shafts, and said drive means also including a lower drive shaft detachably secured to said one output shaft and an upper drive shaft detachably secured to the other output shaft together with first means connecting said lower drive shaft to said platform member and second means connecting said upper drive shaft to said head structure rotatable means, said first connecting means engaging said platform member peripherally for rotating the same.

2. In a textile sliver coiler, the combination of structure as defined in claim 1 and further characterized in that said power input unit includes an input shaft extending from said tubular column structure perpendicularly with respect to the axis thereof and having an input gear secured at its extending end, and in that a pivotally mounted transmission assembly is provided for operatively connecting said input gear to a take-off gear of an external power source, said transmission assembly comprising a bracket member mounted at one of its ends for pivotal movement about the axis of said input shaft, and an idler gearmounted for free rotation at the other end of said bracket member and disposed in meshing relation with said input gear.

3. In a textile sliver coiler, the combination of structure as defined in claim 1 and further characterized in that said first connecting means comprises a drive pulley carried by said lower drive shaft with a drive belt extending therefrom and engaging said platform member, and in that said second connecting means comprises a drive pulley carried by said upper drive shaft with a drive belt extending therefrom and engaging said head structure rotatable means.

4. In a textile sliver coiler, the combination of structure as defined in claim 1 and further characterized in that said platform structure additionally includes a base member and interposed bearing means carrying said platform member for rotation on said base member.

5. In a textile sliver coiler, the combination of structure as defined in claim 1 and further characterized in that the sliver can carrying surface of said platform to be centered on said platform member upon mutual contact of said spherical rollers with said wall portions and to be wedged in place thereat by the rotational thrust imparted to the sliver can as textile sliver is laid therein.

"I i fi I 

1. In a textile sliver coiler, a sliver can platform structure including a rotatable platform member, a tubular column structure extending vertically from said platform structure and supporting at its upper end a head structure having rotatable means for laying a textile sliver into a sliver can carried by said platform member, and drive means including a power input unit detachably secured to said column structure intermediate the ends thereof and having two output shafts extending therefrom oppositely and generally coaxially with respect to said column structure, said power input unit also including a speed reduction section for reducing the rotational speed of one of said output shafts, and said drive means also including a lower drive shaft detachably secured to said one output shaft and an upper drive shaft detachably secured to the other output shaft together with first means connecting said lower drive shaft to said platform member and second means connecting said upper drive shaft to said head structure rotatable means, said first connecting means engaging said platform member peripherally for rotating the same.
 2. In a textile sliver coiler, the combination of structure as defined in claim 1 and further characterized in that said power input unit includes an input shaft extending from said tubular column structure perpendicularly with respect to the axis thereof and having an input gear secured at its extending end, and in that a pivotally mounted transmission assembly is provided for operatively connecting said input gear to a take-off gear of an external power source, said transmission assembly comprising a bracket member mounted at one of its ends for pivotal movement about the axis of said input shaft, and an idler gear mounted for free rotation at the other end of said bracket member and disposed in meshing relation with said input gear.
 3. In a textile sliver coiler, the combination of structure as defined in claim 1 and further characterized in that said first connecting means comprises a drive pulley carried by said lower drive shaft with a drive belt extending therefrom and engaging said platform member, and in that said second connecting means comprises a drive pulley carried by said upper drive shaft with a drive belt extending therefrom and engaging said head structure rotatable means.
 4. In a textile sliver coiler, the combination of structure as defined in claim 1 and further characterized in that said platform structure additionally includes a base member and interposed bearing means carrying said platform member for rotation on said base member.
 5. In a textile sliver coiler, the combination of structure as defined in claim 1 and further characterized in that the sliver can carrying surface of said platform member is flat except for three equally spaced upstanding wall portions each of which extends with an inward inclination from the periphery of said platform member in the direction of rotation of said head structure rotatable means, each of said wall portions having a length and inclination proportioned to cause a sliver can mounted on three equally spaced spherical rollers to be centered on said platform member upon mutual contact of said spherical rollers with said wall portions and to be wedged in place thereat by the rotational thrust imparted to the sliver can as textile sliver is laid therein. 